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The Citizen of To-Day; 



;^N ;4ddress, Delivered Before 



HE 



HIRD TiNNUALTAIR 



f- 



-OF THE- 



;= 



TATE OF 



Arka 



NSAS, 



-AT- 



LiTTLE Rock, October i2th, i 



-BY- 




;,\ UBRARY ^ 

Fay MEyviPSTEAD, Esq\^^^^^.-^*^ 



Of Little Rock, Ark, 



LITTLB ROCK : 

GAZETTE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1871. 



rt'^'T 



P 



FFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 



President. 
D. E. JOJVES, ofPidaski. 



Vice-Presidents. 

A. Mcdonald, of Pnlaski. .tames S. WOLFE. of Pulaski. 

S. L. GHIFHTII, of Pulaski. L. H. ROOTS, of Prairie. 

H. A. MILLEN. of Ouaehita, J>k. U. W. LAWRPLNCK, of HotSp'gr. 

H, ANDKRSON of Hot Sprinp, Dr. H. B. B1>ACKBURN. of Desha. 

Dr. T. M. JAC KS. of Phillips. T. R. TENNYSuN. of Clark. 

SOLOMON BXON, of Crawford. S. R. CLOUD, of Clark. 



Directors. 

D. E. JONES. WILLIAM IIFNTER, R. C. BERTRAND, 

JAMES A. HENRY. H. L. FLKTCHER. E. P. BISHOP, 

W. D. BLOCHER, (4E(»RGE R. WEEKS. R. A. EDGERTON. 






/^ .■•-^,^-,. ^-^.^^ Superintendent of Pair Grounds. 

WILLIAM HUNTER. 



'^ 



0- 



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jy.f Secretary. 

.^..:-i'-^ EDWARD. C. MORTON, of Pulaski. 

Adilress: Little Rook. 



Treasurer. 

HENRY PAGE, of Pulaski. 



ADDRESS. 



Ladies and Gektlemex : 

This pleasing scene which greets us here to-day, can not fail 
to make an agreeable impression upon every one wh© has our 
public welfare at heart. It is not that we behold here a col- 
lection of people assembled for the festivities of some unmean- 
ing gala-day occasion. It is not for this that we behold the 
comers who have flocked hither to this point of attraction, but 
the occasion which calls us together is one of deeper import 
than that. We have come to witness what display our State 
can make iri spreading to the gaze of the public the emblems 
of her prowess ; the accumulations of her industry ; the speci- 
mens of her productiveness ; and to convince the world of the 
exalted excellence that lies crouched within her borders. 

It is for this that we have come together from all parts of our 
extended land, — that we have declared a truce with the cares 
and engagements of life; that we have shaken off the dust of 
trade and profession ; that we have put away from us the re- 
quirements of business, and here in the scope of these beauti- 
ful grounds, we are to weave anew the scattered threads of 
friendship, to intertwine with them golden threads from the 
skein of Hope, and to cluster around this altar in a joint liba- 
tion to the Patron Saint of Agriculture, " whose ways are ways 
of pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace." 

It is well then for such an occasion, that the countenances of 
those who are assembled here should wear the serene smile of 
contentment, that the old among us should have come hither to 



[4] • 

gather a new leaf for the chaplct of memory ; that our young men 
should have come in the pride of their strength and in the fresh- 
ness of their young life ; that you should have gathered floral 
offerings, the dark evergreen and the field's sweetest blossom to 
decorate yon fair temjile ; that the air should be filled with the 
dulcet strains from our band, and lovelier either than the spirit 
of music or the beauty of flowers, that the fair form and bright 
face of lovely woman should be here to sanction with her pre- 
sence, to illumine with her smiles and to "shed selected influ- 
ences upon the hour." 

But while we dwell upon the beauty of the scene before us 
let us not forget why it is that we are here. While we enter 
with such zest into the contemplation of the effect, let us not 
lose sight of the cause of our coming. It is not on account of 
some grand proclamation which has required our attendance. 
We are not here from the operation of any arbitrary law or 
statute, the punishment for whose infraction we dreaded. Each 
one of you is sensible of the fact that he is entirely free to do 
otherwise. But each one thinking for himself, is here because 
it is in his heart to do so. It chimes in with his nature — it is 
a manifestation of his sentiments. And this, methinks, is the 
grand key-note from which springs the organized action of all 
bodies of men — the conjoint action of its component elements. 
That power that can move multitudes to its bidding is one of 
might, surely ; but it dwindles into the merest insignificance 
beside that power which springs up in the breasts ot the indi- 
vidual members of that multitude. Thus it is that we behold 
a multitude gathered here to-day, because it was their will, 
when not a tenth part of whom could have been dragged hither 
had their minds been contrary to their coming. 

Thus it will be seen that the individual is something more 
than merely a portion of an assembly ; that power is not the 
result of a few, but that it springs from the organized action of 
the many; that the individual carries with him a great portion 
of the public, so to speak. As the oak is not the tree of itself, 
nor the cataract the rushing stream of itself, but is absolutely 



[5] 

nothing, unless the thousand separate portions that compose it 
are joined together in the one body, so is it with the State. And 
it is to the power and the importance of these individual ele- 
ments, my friends, that I shall to-day endeavor to direct your 
attention. I shall not enter into any inquiry whether the power 
of one portion of our community should be more enlarged — 
another more restricted — but I shall look at the power of the 
individual as it is. 1 will consider the workings of that 
power in our midst that makes up the moulding of all issues 
and gives them cast and color — that great artist of the social 
world that forms and fashions the influences of society into 
events, even as the rude clay is shaped in the hands of the pot- 
ter. It seems to me peculiarly appropriate that to-day we 
should turn our minds homeward, and I shall, accordingly, do 
so. I will speak of ourselves. My theme shall be the CITIZEN 
TO-DAY. 

Cicero has declared that the beginning of all discussions 
should consist of a definition, in order that it may be set forth 
clearly wliat is the subject in controversy, and acknowledging 
the excellence of the precept, I shall lay down two propositions 
that I shall endeavor to follow in the course of these observa- 
tions. It shall be my effort to show — 

I. "What is the relation of the citizen to the state in our pe- 
culiar form of government ; and 

II. The duties which rest upon the citizens of the present 
time by reason of this relation. 

The formation of our American Republic, as you all know 
was long regarded as a hazardous experiment. Inasmuch as 
our forefathers saw fit to dissent from the doctrines of the older 
schools of social architecture, and upon the lessons which their 
experience afforded, to erect a scheme new in every particular 
the combined old world looked with considerable scrutiny to the 
success of this new undertaking. It has been with not a little 
degree of surprise, then, that they h^ve beheld this young 
country growing in greatness, adding power to power, taking 
in vast sweeps of territory, scattering towns and cities over its 



[6] 

broad domain — even as the Parent hand scatters the flowers of 
Spring over the face of the meadow ; the whole land thriving 
with a degree of rapidity hitherto unseen — the whole nation 
" rejoicing, like a giant, to run its course." But then it is not 
difficult to understand. It all came from this fact: that mon- 
archs and sovereigns in the old world held to that narrow view 
of political ethics that one kind of government could be made 
to suit the wants of aiiy kind of people, and the people, unable 
to obtain any other, were compelled to accept that which was 
administered to them. But the founders of our government, 
with greater wisdom, recognized the fact that one form of gov- 
ernment is suited to one kind of people, and another to another, 
just as one medicine is suited to one condition of the system, 
and another to a different one. They deemed that one system 
of laws could be no more made to suit the wants of different 
kinds of people than that one garment can be found to fit many 
different shaped bodies. Therefore, when they would erect a 
political fabric to suit the genius and spirit of freedom of the 
American people, they exactly reversed the plans of those 
bigoted rulers. Their theory was that the King and the noble- 
men were the head and front of the state, while the people were 
the mere limbs that should obey ther bidding. Our theory 
made a revolution of this. We trampled down every vestige 
of such an idea. We repudiated the '' divine right of Kings." 
\Ve made the citizens to be the head, the heart, and the soul of 
our state, and thus it was that the will of our citizens w'as 
solemnly inaugurated our King. 

It is a monarch, indeed — a mightier than which the world 
has never seen. It is not in our peculiar form of government 
alone that it displays its power, but in others. It is not any 
particular race that are its vassals. It is not the dwellers in 
any particular clime that render it homage. It requires no 
armies or navies to enforce its regulations. It has none of the 
local paraphernalia of government in which to hold its courts 
and proclaim its will ; but it is of itself everything in itself. 
It is the fickle God whose smile must be courted in order to 



crown til e adventurer with success, and without whose sanction 
the sce}>tred sovereign is, so to speak, but the veriest compound 
of gildid nothingness in an empty throne/ Society has not, nor 
ever can, constitute a sovereign in the true meaning of that 
word, for the ruling power has not been placed in the hands of 
one, nor of a thousand, but in that of the opinions of the peo- 
ple, and when its voice in sullen mutterings comes up from an 
united people, it is the utterance of a voice whose mandate 
must be obeyed. It is potent of itself, and is above the need of 
assistance to help execute its mandates. It makes its own 
laws, it construes them and it executes them. Laws may be 
carefully framed in halls of legislation, they may be consumma- 
ted with all the ceremonies that attend their creation, they may 
be emblazoned on every page of the statute book, they may be 
scattered into every household, and find a place at every fire- 
side, but I tell you if it be not likewise written upon the hearts 
of the citizens that are to be governed by that law, it becomes 
but a dry husk — a nerveless skeleton — a meaningless phrase. 

Look at the laws of England in this respect. Slavery has 
never been abolished there by statute, and yet it is the Briton's 
boast that there all men draw in freedom with the air they 
breathe. 

Formerly he who demanded land held by another chose him 
a champion, and another was chosen for the occupant of the 
land, and these two fell upon each other in terrific combat. 
Now, if the demandant's champion cried not out until the go- 
ing down of the sun, he was adjudged to have prevailed, and 
the title became his ; otherwise, his adversary's. This barbar- 
ous practice, called the " wager of battle on a writ of right," still 
subsists on the English statute books, but the will of the citi- 
zens setting against it, it has so far been repealed by that self- 
sufficient power that he who attempted, recently, in his own 
case to revive it, was looked upon as a madman. 

So, too, of our own law. One section of our State statute 
book says that whosoever shall profanely curse and swear shall 
be fined. Yet the very air reeks with wildest blasphemy, and 



L8] 

the people, tolerating tLe practice, the law is perfectly inopera- 
tive to prevent it. 

We have upon our Federal statute book a law that 
whosoever engaged iu disloyal practices against the General 
Government should be disqualified from filling the jury-box to 
preside as a juror in the trial of any case that might arise in 
her courts, and when that law was passed there was a necessity 
for it. It arose out of the hot fiery breath of civil commotion. 
But the opinions of the public have so far changed and cooled 
down since the enactment of that law that we behold that 
sacred safeguard to the rights of American freemen filled alike 
with him who wore the blue and him who wore the gray — 
side by side — brothers in interest, as they are in blood, and 
each one exercising his utmost wisdom to secure a fair and an 
impartial administration of justice. 

It has well been said that *' Law is but an expression of the 
progress of a race," that it " photographs the features of each 
successive century." It is an index to the sentiment of an 
age. It had its life from no one particular enactment. It did 
not spring into existence, the creation of some great mind, but, 
taking its rise in an expression of the citizens' will, it has grown 
and increased with the ages, living by the same power that 
gave it birth. It is not the work of days, nor of weeks, but, 
in the language of a celebrated English statesman, " With all 
its faults and imperfections, it holds within itself the col- 
lected wisdom of centuries." It has lived in that time, 
nourished by the will of the citizen, which underlay it all. 
Wherever you may look in the system of jurisprudence you will 
find that the sentiment of the law-giver has always been in ac- 
cordance with the tones of the popular voice. King John 
signed the Magna Charta at Ilunymede ; Edward I. publicly 
ratified it ; Charles I. granted the Petition of Eight ; Charles 
11. established the Habeas Corpus act ; William and Mary as- 
sented to the Bill of Rights, not so much from any decisive 
step that was taken by the heads who performed the act, but 
because there was a power behind the throne demanding it. 



mightici- lliaii him wlio wielded t lie sceptre, :ukI no power eoiild 
avail to withliold it. 

Tlius has it been that the confluent will of the citizens of the 
state has gradually dislodged from their fastenings one after 
another of the craggy points in jurisprudence and rendered the 
rough places smooth even as they wished. 

It has been the law-makers dream for ages to find a law^ that 
will suit the varied requirements of different peoj)lc, but they 
have failed. Laws cannot ba made, like the fabled sandals of 
old, that fit all feet, for this will of the citizen varies like the 
vane. The same power that gave life to the law is the very 
])8wer that unmakes it in an hour. 

Hardly half a year has passed away since one of the Royal 
house of (what was then) the French Empire, was put upon 
his trial, at Tours, for the killing of a French citi- 
zen, under circumstances that w'ould ordinarily make men 
tremble for their safety. The majesty of the people was 
outraged by the act, and their voice cried for vengeance, 
even though it should fall in high places. But when 
Grossuet, one of those leaders who were hot in their hostility 
to the Royal dynasty, appeared at the bar, he heaped upon 
that defenceless captive such bitter insults that they who had 
gone thither with thirsty hope of seeing the mangled body of 
the slayer torn by the mob, now turned in their sentiments, 
and shouted for his release. Grossuet overreached himself. 
He turned the tide of the po])ular will by his extreme acrimony, 
and from that time, the Prince was safe. This is but saying 
that the voice of the citizens swept away, in an hour, that law 
that had lived in their system so long, and under which so 
many thousands had suffered. The prisoner was acquitted. 

Thus it will be seen that the citizen is something or t! 
legislator who enacts, the judge who pronounces and the oflicet 
who executes the laws of the land. He is not the entire 
enactor any more than a single loaf is a whole forest, or a rain- 
drop a river, but he is a mighty element in the production of 
that power. Laws take their rise because the citizens so desire 



[10] 

it, are ])i'omulgatcd througli their co-operation ami die when 
they ])ronounce the dictum. 

But it is not in the formation and preservation of laws alone 
that this will of the citizen is powerful. It extends to all 
manner of observances. It confines itself not to an}v particular 
class. It fears not the powerful, shields not the rich, spares not 
the proud. It speaks in tones whose reverberations shake the 
solid pillars of kingly palaces themselves, and all the pomp 
and glitter and parade of royalty must quail before the indig- 
nant flashes from its kindling eye when it rages against tyranny 
and oppression. Then it is the outburst of a power that has 
gradually collected, like some mighty swelling river, which, 
breaking down its banks, rushes through the crevasse with im- 
petuous fury, spreading destruction with the sweep of its waters. 
And woe to the man who ventures, single handed, to encounter 
it! 

Caligula, we are told in Roman history, wrote his laws in 
small characters, and placed them high upon a pillar where 
none could read, so that he might have the more frequent op- 
portunity of punishing the people for breaking them. But the 
indignant voice of the people cried out against the act, and in 
the gleam of the dagger that smote him to the earth and let out 
his base spirit from this tenement of clay, he reckoned the error 
that had cost him his life — the wall of the citizen is the su- 
preme law of the world. 

And do you remember, my friends, the story of Bonaparte 
and the Iron Crown ? It w^as an established custom in France, 
you know, that decorations of honor should be given to those 
persons who had distinguished themselves Ijy eminent literary, 
military or political achievements, but to no others. Napoleon, 
desiring to honor a celebrated musician, undertook to overthrow- 
all this, and presented that genius with the Iron Crown — for- 
merly the crown of Charlemange. But the voice of the people 
broke out into resistance in an instant, and so loud was their 
clamor, and so bitter their denunciations, that he yielded assent 
and took it back. 



[11] 

Behold, now, what a spectacle! He, the great king-maker 
of the modern world, who could distribute crowns and thrones 
among his favorites like playthings — who could sweep from the 
map of the world vast countries) — who could hurl millions to 
combat and shake the foundations of empires to their very 
centres, but yet who couldn't give away a little trinket of iron 
contrary to the citizens' will — that majestic power alone su- 
perior to his own. 

And as it is futile for a single member of the state to oppose 
the current of the popular will, so is it, on the other hand true, 
that he is more than thrice armed who moves onward, sustained 
by this power. On« of the most pleasant of our poets has 
pictured his hero with hands armed with a pair of magic mit- 
tens, before whose stroke all things gave way. He smote the 
rough rocks, and they gaped open wide asunder. He siezed 
upon the sturdy oak, and rent it into fragments. 

It seems to me that this entertaining fiction of Hiawatha's mit- 
tens most admirably prefigures the effect of public sentiment. He 
who places himself at the head of the swift rolling current of the 
citizens' will is indeed armed with a magic power. He deals 
irresistable blows, that are not the product of his own force, 
but which are the force of that power that lies in restless 
strength behind him. Peter, the Hermit, in the Crusades — 
Martin Luther, in the German Reformation — Oliver Cromwell, 
in the English Parliament — President Lincoln, penning the 
Emancipation Proclamation, are examples of what giants in 
action men may become when upborne by the people's will. 
Men may be feeble and weak of themselves, but let them bo 
sustained by this power and they accomplish acts whose results 
will vibrate through the world for centuries ! 

I have thus far spoken of the very great influence which the 
citizen exerts in countries generally, and I have, for the most 
part, selected my illustrations from countries where the citizen 
does not enjoy a great degree of freedom. Indeed I have fre- 
quently considered cases Avhere the citizen occupies decidedly a 
secondary position with respect to the state. Let us reflect 



[12] 

now that if in coumries of this nature the importance of the 
citizen is so great, liow much greater docs it become in a gov- 
ernment like our own ! The fabric of our government, was 
built after a peculiar fashion, but it was built to suit the 
wants of a peculiar kind of people, just as some ships are built 
to sail in particular waters. It was made a government in which 
the citizen should be more of a motive power than any other. 
The heads of departments, the executors of the laws, the 
managers of the machinery of government were not put there 
!'V the fiat of some mightier Monarch, but they were put there 
• l!ic citizens themselves. In Monarchies and Aristocracies 
\\\o man h merged into the subject. Here with us the man is 
elevated to the sovereign. Every freeman wears around him 
a zone of inviolability — an odor or aroma of sovereignty. 
With them, the king is the fountain of honor, and possesses, 
exclusively, the attributes of sovereignty. Here icith us, the 
people are the fountain of honor, and arc the sole sovereigns. 
There, i\\eve is a graduated scries of subserviency in the organic 
structure of the government — from the king, down through the 
titled nobility, to the lowest vassal. Here, there is no dis- 
parity between men. There, the subject may be debased with- 
out dimming the lustre of the diadem. But liere, the citizen 
can not be debased, without sullying the sovereignty of the 
whole nation. It is one of the peculiar ])rivileges we enjoy as 
members of this Republic that we should maintain the position 
of dignity and importance which our membership gives us. It 
is one of the boasted blessings of American freedom that 
wherever our lot be cast, whether it be cast among the good 
things of this life, and we be daily "clothed in ])urple and fine 
linen," or whether it be in the thatched cot and under the 
rough exterior of humble life ; whether we be skilled in all the 
arts of social culture, or have yet to learn the alphabet of re- 
finement, we are, after all, as men, gifted with an equal degree 
of importance as members of one body. We are all members 
of one grand brotherhood, having one commen Mother — the 
State — whose destinies we frame, whose power we constitute 



1.13] 

and whose vitality we are. And, when some thirty odd years 
ago, our young state took its ]>lace among this vast array of 
states, and became invested with all the privileges of the gen- 
eral body, wc fully rec9gnized this fact. We acknowledged 
the power and the importance of the citizen. We inscribed it 
on our banners and emblazoned it on our arms that "all powe^ 
is inlierent in the people," for there on our seal of state is pic- 
tured even-handed Justice, with her balances, to judge the 
right — with the emblems of Art at her feet — with the l)adge of 
Industry on her right hand and on her left, while from her 
iiand floats the scroll bearing that inspiring motto, " llegnmil 
Populi " — it is the people who rule. 

It follows, then, from what has been said, that since the citi- 
zen is of so much importance in his relation to the state, that 
he ought not to be degraded. The social compact under which 
he enjoys his citizenship should elevate rather than depress his 
rights. If he is to be a citizen at all, he ought to be one fully 
and in every particular. You can not make a country great, 
or powerful, or happy, when one citizen is made to occupy a 
subservient position to another citizen, who occupies an equal 
standing with himself. You can not degrade one citizen, or 
one community, or one State, without thereby lowering the en- 
tire National standard. It is true that each particular gem of 
a jewel sparkles with its own peculiar brilliance, but it is only 
when they are linked and bound together by golden cords, and 
look forth from a chaste and ])olished setting that the full efful- 
gence is obtained ! Look if this be not the case with the most 
powerful of Governments that you can call to mind ! Look if 
the inviolability of the citizen has not been looked upon as the 
true bulwark of National stability ! It is related of (^ueen 
Victoria that she was approached by a certain nobleman to se- 
cure the arrest of one of the humblest of her subjects. " AVhy," 
replied she, " it were worth the whole of my crown if I 
ventured to lay a finger's weight uj>on him, without clearly ex- 
j)ressed authority !" Find me a land where the rights of the 
citizen are so sacredly preserved ami 1 will show you one strong 



[14] 

in its inherent^streugth and invariably redolent with the sweet 
perfumes of prosperity. 

It is not my purpose to make comment upon the i)olitical 
rulers of our Nation who have wielded the hand of power for 
the last five years. I would not lug a topic of that nature into 
a discourse of this kind if I could, but I will merely remark, 
in passing, that when the restoration of Peace called them to 
the solemn duty of shaping the future destiny of the State, that 
no lesson that the Past contained could have afforded them 
sounder instruction than is to be gained from the case of Ctesar, 
in llonian history. 

When he had overthrown the adherents of Pompey, he re- 
turned to Rome " the foremost living man in all the world !" 
He immediately set up the statue of his illustrious rival in the 
Forum. He confiscated no property ; he filled no dungeons; 
he interfered with no rights ; he appointed to office alike those 
who had fought under and those who had fought against his 
banner, and when the Roman eagles came soaring back oer the 
assuaging waters of the red deluge and folded their wings in 
peaceful triumph under the eaves of the capitol, they looked 
down upon the Imperial city, not holding two factious mobs, 
the one boasting " I have followed Ctesar," and the other, " T 
have followed Pompey," but upon a single hearted people — 
bound together like the fasces of their lictors, and each one re- 
joicing in that grand old boast, since then made illustrious by 
land as well as by sea, " I am a Roman citizen !" 

Now, his acts were undoubtedly correct in principle, and 
what was the result? Why, we read that in less than ten 
months he had completed reforms by which the whole Republic 
was rejuvenated. Arts began to flourish, science was resumed, 
public libraries were established^ liberal enactments were 
passed, a grand harbor was projected and a code of laws begun 
which afterwards became the law for civilized Europe. And 
[ fondly indulge the hope, that the time is near us when the 
liberal enactments pronuilgated })y that great ruler will be imi- 
tated by those in our own midst; when this Nation will become, 



[15 J 

as it certainly will, not the rival of Home in greatness and in 
power, but unrivalled by any nation on whom the bright sun 
has ever shed its rays, as it travels its diurnal track through the 
deep blue of the Heavens. 

Now, my friends, since the citizen is of so much importance 
in his relation with the State, it follows further that, there^ are 
certain things which he must do by reason of this relation. It 
would be unbecoming in him in the highest degree if he failed 
to sustain the position of dignity and importance which his 
membership gives him. It would be a reproach to him indeed 
if with all the privileges he enjoys he should fail to make him- 
self worthy of them. But how is he to discharge this impor- 
tant duty fully, unless he be aware what is his duty toward 
the State on the one hand and what are his rights, privileges 
and immunities on the other ? Tiierefore it becomes peculiarly 
appropriate that every citizen should make himself acquainted 
with the fundamental principles of our Government. It is 
not a matter "of necessity that he be a politician or a publicist, 
but he ought by all means always to have definitely fixedjn 
his mind a knowledge of the organic law of our structure, to 
inform himself of its various branches and departments and^to 
make himself thorouffhlv conversant with the constitutution of 
our political fabric. He ought also to make himself acquainted 
with the laws of his country so far as it may be convenient for 
him to do — for surely the pilot floats in jeopardy every hour 
if he be unacquainted with the rocks and breakers that infest 
the coast. Let him inform himself of them if he would for- 
bear to violate them. And by all means it becomes him as a 
good citizen to yield implicit obedience to them. Let him 
scrupulously avoid what they forbid and do what they com- 
mand, and let him give to the last tittle the reverence due to 
the laws and to the ministers of justice as such, without regard 
to what he may think of their personal characters. If a law 
appears unjust, unreasonable or oppressive, no one should resist 
it on that account in an illegal way, or even to suffer himself so 
to speak or act as to induce others to violate it. There is a con- 



[16]- 

stitiitional iiiclliud ot repcnlini;- bad laws, and any departuit- 
from this wlielher by individuals or bodies of men tends to 
anr.reliy and the destruction of all law. If we can not consci- 
entiously ol)ey a law Ave ought meekly to make known our 
scruples and submit to the decision of properly constituted au- 
thorities whatever the penalty may be, until we can either peace- 
fully procure a change in the law or else withdraw^ ourselves 
from under its operation. 

But the law is also the conservator of morals. It bears in 
it3 hand a llaming sword to drive the wicked from vice. It 
throws the vEgis of its protection round the form of pub- 
lic virtue and sedulously frowns down though it maybe power- 
less to check — private vice. Therefore the good citi^cen in up- 
holding the laws of his country upholds at the same time ihe 
cause of morality. Indeed, it is a duty devolving upon him, 
which is of a higher nature even than obedience to its laws. 
Law is an expression of the citizen's will, but Morality, in the 
abstract, is the result of God's law in men's hearts through the 
conscience, which is His vicegerent upon earth. It is a beauti- 
fid indication of the sufficiency of that moral Government that 
is displayed in its operation in our midst. Let the heart of the 
citizen be pure, and it is a matter of 710 moment if there be 110 
laws to govern him. Let the blood in the human frame be pure 
and you may safely reckon the state of that man's health. 
Find me a land where the hearts of the citizens are pure and 
of true morality, and I will answer for the fact of their being 
peaceful law abiders ; for" as is the fountain, so will be th(! char- 
acter of the waters which it sends forth." 

Cicero, who lived long years before the advent of Christ, 
wrote a sentence relative to the moral duties of the citizen, 
wliich so forcibly applies to us of this day, that it would seem 
but yesterday put into print, " His duty," said he, " is to live 
on a just and equal footing with his fellow men, neither sub- 
servient and subordinate nor domineering. In his sentiments 
towards the public to be always for peaceful and virtuous 



[17] 

measures, for such we are accustomed to imagine and to describe 
a virtuous citizen." 

More than 2,000 yera's have elapsed since that sentiment was 
uttered, and in that time we have scarcely learned to define the 
duties of the citizen with greater accuracy. His morality is, 
indeed, his crowning jewel. It is a " brightness of glory " 
around him. Let him, therefore, preserve his morality, both 
for himself and for the good it may extend to others. Virtue, 
Burke says, is as catching by contact as vice. Let him, there- 
fore, cultivate it the more assiduously, that it may extend its 
good influences to others who may surround him. And from 
Morality to the highest type of Christianity the step is short, 
is easy and is natural. Morality is, indeed, but a lesser sort of 
Christianity,' and he who^has filled bis mind and heart with 
its fruits, even though he may not conform to the outward ob- 
servances of religion, hath laid up for himself treasures 
"where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
do not break through nor steal." 

But how will you obtain this morality on the part of the 
citizen ? The answer is by purifying his mind by the processes 
of education. It would belittle use to attempt to rear delicate 
shrubs upon uncultivated fallow land. Clear the mind from 
the noxious weeds of ignorance and unenlightenment and you 
have a fair prospect for a glorious fruition. To purify the mind 
is to advance the man by that much nearer to that primeval 
state in which dwelt the first pair — '' ere sin entered into the 
world and all our woe, with loss of Eden." It is to cause him 
to exercise the nobler refinements of humanity — to cultivate the 
blessed spirit of charity — to heal the sick — to cheer the faint 
— to succor the distressed and needy, and in every way to as- 
similate his actions to the character of that one glorious model, 
"in whom dwelt the fullness of the God-head bodily." 

And this, as I have said, is to be accomplished by the preva- 
lence of education in our midst. Now, the word " education," 
in its broadest sense, does not mean the mere acquisition of 
knowledge alone, for knowledge may be accumulated and yet 
3 



[18] 

our actions may be vicious and immoral ; but education, as 
Webstter has it, means that " the feelings are to be disciplined 
— the passions are to be restrained — true and worthy motives 
are to be implanted — a profound religious regard is to be in- 
spired, and perfect morality to be inculcated under all circum- 
stances." Now let ns, for a moment, reflect upon this ! What 
a nation would that be in which every citizen would be thus 
educated; where the public sentiment cast into the pure molds 
of enlightenment, and tempered with the blessed influences of 
religion, would glow with all the fervor that cultivation could 
give. Xo wretchedness and degredation would be there. Xo 
haughty oppression from the hand of licentious power. No 
dungeon bar or prison cell to shut out the coveted light from 
the unhappy captive, but the fabled Utopia that sprang up in 
the imagination of Sir Thomas Moore, would not fu* distance 
the happiness of such a land of such realities. 

This is a visionary dream, 1 know. Our experience is 
against its ever happening, but let us ask ourselves by what 
method can the nearest approach be made to this glorious 
country, and we shall not fail to receive for a reply that it is 
by leading the mind through the broad avenues of learning. 
It has wisely been said that " in morals, as in physics, light is 
a great disinfectant.'' Let there be the light of knowledge 
shining in the hearts of the people and you may safely reckon 
the morality of that community. It is ot the utmost import- 
ance, then, that the blessings of education, in the popular sense 
of that term, should be sown broadcast through our com- 
munity. 

Behold ! wc place lamps upon our street corners, that they 
may drive back the plunderer and the robber, and that the 
citizen may walk in the light thereof safely and advisedly. 
Let there likewise be erected in every nook and corner of our 
land abodes of education, that by diffusing their light through 
the people they may put to flight the dark demons of ignorance 
and unenlightenment and that the citizen may walk his way 
through the world understandingly, and not gropingly. 



[19] 

It i8 peculiarly the duty of our public officials to secure this 
blessing, but it is also greatly the duty of the citizen to enter 
with all zest into the spirit of the enterprise. 

Do you remember, my friends, the parable of the 
talents in the Scriptures ? It was only the foolish servant to 
whom this possession had been confided that " went and 
wrapped his in a napkin and digged and hid it in the earth," 
but the wise servants " went and traded with the same !" That 
is, they let it pass current from hand to hand to the promotion 
of trade, and thereby benefitted the community. So, likewise, 
he who has received the blessings of education ought not to be 
content to let its treasurers remain locked up in his own breast, 
but he ought, by all means, to endeavor to have them simi- 
larly circulated into every household — to have them distributed 
broadcast throughout the community, that others may reap its 
rewards equally with himself. Let this be done, and we will 
have secured one of the greatest safeguards to National pros- 
perity. 

Then, fellow-citizens, 1 recount one other duty resting upon 
American citizens of the present time, more stern because more 
uncommon — more important because more solemn than any of 
the duties which he owes or can owe to the State. It is a duty 
which has been dwelt upon to satiety, and which can be found 
emanating from the columns of any respectable press, but I 
allude to it here because I think it could not be too often 
brought to our notice if it should be dinned in our ears each 
hour of the day and each minute of the hour, and that is our 
duty towards each other. 

Since the Government under which we live is composed of 
and upheld by its various constituent elements, it follows that 
we are strong only in binding together these component parts, 
even as was the case with the bundle of faggots in ^Esop's fable, 
though each particular stick in that memorable collection may 
have been of a weakly and indifferent nature. " It is in union 
that there is strength." Hatred and bitterness towards each 
other ; strife and contention iy our midst ; discord and bicker- 



[20] 

inge, uit! the surest "svay of deranging the vital functions of the 
public and defeating a peaceful course of affairs. The people 
of our day and generation are placed in a situation whose em- 
barrassment has never found a parallel in the annals of 
American history. A great commotion has but a few years 
died away from us, and we are but beginning to rouse ourselves 
from the dead calm that follows the muttering thunder. A 
mighty conflict, producing stupendous results, has rolled over 
us, and we are but beginning to repair the ruin that follows in 
the track of war. But does it follow from the fact of war that 
the misery of it should be kept up for all time to come '.' The 
heart of every good citizen must respond to that inquiry, Xo ; 
but on the contrary, ttiat sectional hatred should be frowned 
down as one would discourage sedition — that difference of 
opinion during the late great sectional conflict ought not to 
constitute an immoveable bar t© friendly intercourse, but that 
all these sentiments should be as sincerely purged from men^s 
hearts as one would drive a noxious vapor from his dwelling. 
It is not a commendable process to secure peace and tranquility 
in any other way. Men can expect but little else in return 
when, mimicking the Demoniacs of old, they "haunt the tombs, 
dig into the graves of past occurrences and reanimate with im- 
pure life the mouldering dust of departed controversy." 

It is a subject of great rejoicing with me that in the main the 
citizens do not this last, but the former. I know that I echo 
the sentiments of every worthy citizen when I say that that 
man has my respect who is an honest man, and who endeavors 
to be a useful and an upright citizen, I do not care if it be 
true that he differed with me in his opinions during our late 
great sectional conflict. Let this policy be pursued, and I have 
no fear that we will not be a ha})py and a prosperous people ! 
Let the citizen discharge faithfully this duty and we will be 
strong in our inherent strength and power ! Let this sentiment 
animate the hearts of our citizens and then, as if some Angel 
of Peace spake soothing words to calm the troubled waters, we 
will behold our distracted country 



[21] 

Wipe the dark ashes from her forehead bright. 
Her sombre sackcloth change for robes of white. 
And smile to see her sons once more unite — ■ 
That nought should e'er dissever. 

But, leaving the Past to sleep oblivion's sleep, 
Her noble sons in her support would keep 
Distinct as waves, but joined as \h the deep, 
Forever ! yea, forever ! 

Fellow-Citizens ©p THE State OF Arkansas:— It lias 
been my endeavor in the course of the rambling remarks that 
I have addressed to you, to lead your minds to oou^der the 
poAver and the importanee of the citizen in countries as a gen- 
eral rule, and ho\v' this importance is augmented bv the 
structure of our peculiar government. I then strove to im- 
press upon you a conviction of some of the duties which rest 
upon American citizens at tlie present time, and if in what I 
have said there be one sentence that will cause one of you to 
reflect upon these things for good, I shall rejoice that " not in 
vain I wore my sandal shoon and scollop shell." The time 
would, of course, fail me to enumerate all the duties whicli rest 
upon American citizens of the present time, and many of those 
I have selected relate more particularly to the duties which 
pertain to him in respect to the National as well as the State 
Government, but the purpose of my coming hither would be 
totally unfulfilled if I failed, briefly at least, to recount to vou 
one other duty resting upon yon as citizens of this State, and 
that is your duty to the State itself. If we shall but be Avise 
in our relations to her, we shall make her one of the brio-htest 
in this fair array of States that compose our nation. By Na- 
ture we have been gifted with elements of greatest productive- 
ness. In the broad sweep of her territory is to be found soil 
possessing every degree of fertility. Products of every variety 
and kind are evoked frem this soil with the greatest f^cilitv. 
Vast forests, affording a profusion of splendid material, are to 
be met with on every hand. AVe have beds of ores scattered 
over her surface, exhibiting natural resources of rarest quality 
and all these things accessible by deep and navigable rivers 
which intersect her beautiful plain in all directions. Let us 



[22] 

add that in one of our sections we exhibit remarkable springs, 
that surpass anything of the kind in the known ,world, whose 
medicinal qualities would have joyed"the heart of Esculapius 
himself to behold, and we present a State whose varied attrac- 
tions can not fail to secure for it a prominent place in the esti- 
mation of all who may be at all acquainted with its resources. 
These manifold excellencies are rapidly attracting attention. 
\Mth that natural desire in the hearts of our people to move 
Westward, a great tide of emigration is pouring into this geo- 
graphical division of our country, not a few of whom are 
locating in our l)orders. Let us extend to all such the right 
hand of friendship, and bid them welcome in our midst. From 
what portion of the world soever they may come, let us bid 
them, equally with ourselves, to help ns tend the broad fields of 
our State with wise culture, to help us pierce the mountain, 
bridge the stream, bring forth her mineral wealth from the 
secret places, make her valleys blossom with the blooms of 
prosperity, and her hills be crowned with plenty. \Ye are, and 
necessarily must be, an agricultural people. Occupying, as we 
do, a central position with regard to the natural divisions of the 
great Continent of which we form a part, we are thrown on our 
own resources to keep pace with the opulence of those around 
us. Shall we, since we have been gifted with such great ad- 
vantages allow our opportunities to lie neglected? Shall we 
waste our time in sloth and idleness, and trust that others Avill 
bring to our hand those things of which we feel a need in the 
(!ommon affairs of life ? They who pursue such a course are 
not regarded as being of any worth in the community. It is a 
duty entailed npon man by the pronunciation of the original 
curse that he shouldMabor. Yet there is a dignity about labor 
that is worthy of our highest encomiums. "\\'e are made for it, 
and W'ithout it our [condition is.^one of deep wretchedness. 
Each one of you is aware that it is only by labor and the ex- 
ercise of energy that any matter is accomplished. 

"Not a truth liutli to Art or to Science been given 

But that brows have ached for it and souls toiled and striven "' — 



[23] 

is a sentiment not more true in regard to advancement in indi- 
vidual enterprizes than it is to the advancement of the public 
welfare. Let the citizen, then, turn his attention to the pro- 
motion of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts in our midst, and 
we shall be a State great from our own qualifications, and great 
in the respect we shall command in the estimation of our sister 
States. Let Ceres wave her golden harvests from every hill- 
side and in every vale, and the air resound with the monotonous 
hum from palaces of Mechanical Art in our towns and cities, 
and we will become a State great in both ©ur financial and our 
political significance. 

Heretofore, our progress as a Nation has been looked iipon 
with wide-eyed astonishment. 

Hereafter let the citizen live up to the laws of his State in 
their spirit and intent — let him preserve his morality — let him 
promote the cause of Christianity and Education in our midst 
— let him discharge fully and faithfully the great duty of 
Charity towards his brethren — let him turn his attention to 
Agricultural and Mechanical Arts in our midst, and then will 
our progress as a State be none the less rapid and effectual. 
Then will it be acknowledged that our Nation has no fairer 
State than Arkansas — that Arkansas is composed of none but 
worthy citizens — that her citizens have no more laudable occu- 
pation than Agricultural and Mechanical Arts, and surely none 
will deny that these latter have no more crowning triumph 
than their annual display at the Fair of our Agricultural and 
Mechanical Association. 



JlU S S -A- JL 



ON THE 



RESOURCES OF ARKANSAS, 



WRITTEN BY 



DR. y^. Vv^. GRANGER, 



^nd ^ntered pctober, 187o, to pompete for the prizes 
Offered by the 



STATE FAIR ASSOCIATION, 



AND 



LITTLE ROCK CHAMBER OFCOMMERCE, 



FOR 



The Best Accepted Essay on that Subject. 



LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 
fiAZETTB PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
1870. 



ESSAY. 



The resources of Arkansas may be considered under two 
general heads, as consisting of, first, her natural productions, 
with the industries of which they afford a bnsis ; and, second, 
her actual and possible products of cultivation, with the indus- 
tries and traffic for which they do or can furnish the raw mate- 
rials. 

To these may be added her geographical position, her large 
extent of navigable streams, and her climatic conditions. But 
these are all so interwoven with one branch or another of the 
two main heads already named, that their separate discussion 
will not be undertaken. Incidentally they cannot escape atten- 
tion, in connection with other topics. "We will consider, first, 
her natural productions, under the several heads of " Forest 
Growths," "Fisheries," "Mines and Mineral Resources," "Ag- 
ricultural Resources," and " Textile Products." 

FOREST GROWTHS. 

AVe need only name her sister States, Maine, Minnesota 
and Wisconsin, as familiar instances of the vast wealth to 
be drawn from the forests alone. Maine, with the ocean 
for her highway, Minnesota and ^Wisconsin with the Mis- 



[4] 

sissippi for theirs, have each reaped their yearly millions 
of tribute money from regions more favored, perhaps, in 
other respects, but deficient in this: and they have done it with 
but two varieties of timber as their capital — the white pine 
and the hemlock, or spruce pine. Granting that for some uses 
our pine is inferior to theirs, it is for others as much better ; 
and, foot for foot, all uses considered, is equally valuable. If 
that, seasoning more rapidly, and lighter when seasoned than 
ours, is better adapted to inside ceilings, or the manufacture of 
doors and sash, our native growth is its superior for floors, ship 
building and framing timbers, from its greater hardness and 
strength; while, as to comparative beauty of grain, when fin- 
ished in its native color, simply with oil and varnish, either for 
furniture or interior decorations, the comparison is unquestion- 
ably in our favor, as specimens of both, manufactured in Little 
Rock, will show. As to their hemlock swamps, our cypress 
brakes will match them in area, and more than match them 
in the quality and value of the timber they can produce. 

In our yellow pine and cypress, then, we have the full 
equivalents of their total resources for consumption or export, 
w^hile we have left, adapted to either purpose, an equal amount 
of oak, ash, pecan, hickory, sycamore and gum, which are all 
commercially valuable, apart from their home uses. To this 
list of lumber-producing trees should be added the vast amount 
of walnut in our State, hardly inferior to mahogany or rose- 
wood in beauty or value, and the splendid poplar of our Xorth- 
eastern counties. Nor should we forget our cottouwood, which, 
if it does not yield merchantable lumber, is largely available 
for fencing, fuel, rough lumber for out buildings, and other 
home uses. 

We need not lengthen the list with cedar, mulberry and a 
host of others, notwithstanding their value for domestic uses. 
The mention of our leading growths alone is sufficient to show 
that in value and variety we have no cause to fear a comparison 
of our lumber resources with States that have, as already re- 
marked, grown rich from this one source, with but two kinds 



[5] 

of timber against our widely-varied list. And if these States 
choose to claim a value we have not mentioned in their hem- 
lock — for the uses of its bark in tanning — we can double" that 
in the bark of our oaks for the same purpose, and add its com- 
mercial value for export as quercitron, which it is when rosscd 
and ground. In that shape it commands a price that will bear 
transportation to any part of the United States or even to 
Europe, which the hemlock bark will not. 

In this connecticm we ought not to forget another product 
which, though too small for consideration as timber, is still 
entitled to be ranked as a " resource," from its extensive use in 
the arts and manufactures, and consequent commercial value. 
We mean "sumac," or "shumakc," as it is generally called, 
equal to the Sicilian product in quality, and, when properly 
handled, commanding an equal price in the eastern markets — 
from $90 to $150 per ton; and with a wide demand, based on 
its uses in tanning, dyeing and calico printing, there is hardly 
a county in the State in which a thousand tons do not annually 
grow and go to waste ; yet its value and saleableness are as 
certain as those of cotton or corn, as any one can see by con- 
sulting the market quotations of drugs and dye stuffs in any of 
our Atlantic commercial cities. It derives additional value as 
a resource, from the fact that it thrives without care or culture 
in fence corners and waste places, or can be grown to any 
extent on the southern exposure of hillsides and mountain 
lands, available for few other uses. 

There are, also, other miuor articles indigenous to our forests, 
from which no small income might be derived, owing to their 
uses in the preparation of medicines, essential oils, etc. Some 
of these have long ranked as"articles of commerce, foreign and 
domestic. Among them we may name ginseng, a staple item 
of our ChiuCvSe trade, blackroot, bloodroot or sanguinarea Cana- 
densis, May apple or podophyllium peltatum, snakeroot 
prickley ash, and slippery elm ; all of which, in their crude 
state, or in the shape of concentrated extracts, are extensively 
used in officinal medical preparations of recognized value, and 
still more extensively in patent or quack remedies, 



[6] 

From this exhibit it will be seen that oiir|forest resources are 
of the most ample and varied character. It only remains to 
consider, in general terms, the area over which the production 
of some leading articles extends, with our natural facilities for 
their conversion into merchantable shapes and their transporta- 
tion to market, when we may dismiss tliis branch of our subject. 

The Arkansas river divides the Pine Region somewhat un- 
equally, but from its initial] point ' on either side it extends 
North, South and up stream to the limits of the State. On the 
South^side, beginning at Pine Blufif, it 'extends Southwardly to 
Louisiana and Texas, and is limited on the West by the Choctaw 
line; while North of the river, beginning^at Little^Rock, and 
bounded Eastwardly by a'.line running from the capital through 
Batesville to our Northern boundary, it reaches West to the 
limits of the State. It is true that only a small portion of this 
vast area is exdusivety pine land, and equally true that much of 
it, especially the river bottoms, produce none ; but on nearly all 
the uplands included within these limits it is a prominent 
growth, and in many 'sections it is the predominant one. 

Mingled with the pine, usually, are oak, hickory, dogwood, 
sumac, sassafras and gum, skirting the small streams, while 
north of the Arkansas j river the elm, beech and sugar maple 
are found both within and outside the pine regions. The bot- 
toms, which yield no pine, produce oak, hickory, pecan, ash, 
walnut, sycamore and cypress in exhaustless quantities, besides 
mulberry and cottonwoodj in abundance, and their], full share of 
the medicinal shrubs and plants already mentioned. East, on 
the lines which bound the pine region, we have the poplar in 
the Northeast, with cypress and the other bottom growths in 
the utmost profusion, A limited area,'not_^exceeding five per 
cent, of the State, including prairie and what are known as 
" brush barrens," may be considered practically destitute of tim- 
ber ; but this local and limited '[scarcity only adds value to the 
general abundance. But, while both for extent and value, our 
forest resources may claim a high place, their worth is increased 
by the thousand miles of navigable^streams which afford them 
outlets to the Mississippi through the St. Francis, Cache, 



[7] 

AVhite, Black, Little Red, Arkansas, Saline, Ouachita, Little 
Missouri and Red rivers. The lateral tributaries of all these 
streams afford, at certain seasons, not only the moans of floating 
to the navigable streams a large share of the timber which 
grows between them, but they furnish, also, hundreds of mill 
sites and water powers to drive lumber manufacturing or other 
machinery. Considered in all aspects, including extent, va- 
riety and quality, our forest growths, in connection with the 
facilities afforded by our navigable streams and their distribu- 
tion for reaching the great markets of the world, as well as the 
wide extent of country which can be drained through their 
tributaries, and the manufacturing facilities which these tribu- 
taries afford, we may safely claim, in the combination, a class of 
resources hardly surpassed in the world. They are ample in 
themselves, as elements ot an export trade in both raw and 
manufactured materials, with the collateral home industries 
they can sustain, to employ, profitably for a generation, a 
larger population than the State contains. 

From this we turn to the consideration of a minor but, your 
essayist believes, a rich, though as yet neglected, resource — 

OUR FISHEEIES. 

As an organized industry or regular business, they have in 
fact no recognized existence. Our thousand miles of rivers, 
with their still greater length of tributaries, and unmeasured 
miles of lakes, lagoons and bayous, every rod of them swarm- 
ing with edible fish, have shimmered in the sun for a genera- 
tion with their treasurers practically untouched. Gentlemen 
of means and leisure have, it is true, made them the scene of 
an occasional day's sport, contented if they caught enough for 
a "fry," and to prove their skill as anglers. Occasionally 
some idle adventurer, too lazy for more regular pursuits, and 
too poor, as well as too deficient in business capacity to manage 
this, has tried it as a means of support, and has failed, as such 
men would in any business. The intelligence, capital, skill 
and industry requisite to develop any new business have been 



[8] 

very rarely brought to bear ou it ; but when they have, a cor- 
responding success has never failed to follow. Enough, how- 
ever, is known to settle these points : 

1st. That our waters contain both an abundant supply and a 
fair variety of edible fish. 

2d. That with the requisite appliances, industry and know- 
ledge of their habits, enough could be caught to supply a con- 
siderable demand. 

od. That a demand exists, which a constant supply would 
both meet and augment. 

4th. That those not required for immediate consumption can 
be cured with as much certainty as those caught in the North- 
ern lakes, or the tidal waters of the seaboard, for at least half 
the year, and furnish in that condition a very palatable and 
nutritious food. 

In view of these faets it is thought safe to assert that our 
food resources in this direction are capable, at least, of becoming 
objects well worth such attention from the law-making powers 
as will protect and preserve them, and from capitalists and 
men of energy as will develop them into a staple food resource. 

It is proper to add here that many of the coarser varieties, 
not fit for table use, yield an amount and quality of oil which 
well repays attention, and command, for all the varied uses to 
which such oil is put, the highest market price. 

It is enough for the present to know that we possess the de- 
ments of a considerable and paying industry in this direction, 
and that those elements are none the less a resource because we 
do not now need to use them, or because at present other pur- 
suits, involving less exposure with equal or greater rewards, 
invite us to other channels. Our fisheries are nevertheless a 
resource on which we can draw, when increased population and 
other circumstances make it necessary or desirable, and with 
this statement we pass to the consiv«!eration of our 

MINES AND MINERAL EESOURCES, 

which, if less in some directions than those of other States, are 



[9] 

still ample to give assurance of profitable and diversified em- 
ployment to a considerable population and capital. Even our 
mountain crystals, intrinsically the least valuable in our list, 
command, from their beauty, and rarity in other quarters, a re- 
munerative aud considerable, as well as growing sale to trav- 
elers, geological cabinets and visitors at our springs, which, 
whether thermal, mineral or saline, seem fairly entitled to 
notice here, both because of their mineral origin or qualities 
and their right to rank as natural resources. 

If our Hot Springs, and those impregnated with iron, sul- 
phur or other materials of recognized medical efficiency, send 
forth no waters which can be bottled and sold, they are still 
resources, in a two-fold sense. First, for the relief or cure of 
our own diseases ; and, secondly, in the throngs of health and 
pleasure-seekers they attract, with their attendant disburse- 
ments of money. 

Then, too, our saline waters are of proved capacity for the 
production of large amounts of that indispensible article — the 
salt of commerce and domestic use. If we cannot in this re- 
spect rival the immense production or resulting wealth of New 
York or Cracow, we are sure at least of a home supply, and a 
respectable quantity for export, whenever skill and capital 
shall be applied, as they can be profitably, to this pursuit. The 
full extent of our saline resources is by no means ascertained ; 
but we do know that brines rich enough to repay evaporation 
lire found abundantly in various portions of the State, and their 
existence points to that of solid salt deposits, through which the 
waters must run, or from which they must originate. If the 
only partially saturated waters from which we now produce 
this indispensible article can be made, as they are, a profitable 
source of supply, w^hat may we not expect when capital and ex- 
perience shall enable us, as at some future day they will, to 
reach the beds themselves, and either mine the solid crystals or 
use none but saturated brines. 

Our vast quarries of slate, novaculite or whetstone rock, 
limestone, and marble may be fairly counted as among our 



[10] 

permanent and valuable resources. Except the novaculite or 
whetstone rock, none of these have been worked to any consid- 
erable extent, but their existence here, of good quality, in 
quantities sufficient for any home or export demand, is too well 
settled for question. They are here; so many elements of 
varied and profitable industry. Peeping out from our hill- 
sides and mountain ridges, they only await the march of events : 
the completion of our railroads and the influx of population, to 
assume their rank as important resources both for consumption 
and trade. 

Iron, in different kinds of ore, is known to exist in variousi 
parts of the State in quantities more *tlian sufficient for any 
home demand. 

The existence of co;U and lignite is well ascertained over 
large areas within the State in paying quantities ; and they 
must, at no distant day, become important resources of trade, 
domestic use and manufactures. 

The great lead belt of the United States is knowii to extend 
diagonally across the State. Paying deposits are well settled 
facts at many points along its course, and some of these are 
known to be rich enough in silver to leave the lead as a clear 
profit, after paying all expenses of mining, smelting, separation 
and marketing. 

Fire, pipe and potters' clays, as well as kaolin, are abun- 
dant, and unsurpassed in quality. And gypsum, or plaster of 
paris, has been found in quantity sufficient to meet a large 
demand. 

The existence of nitre caves and nitrous earths has long been 
known, and the recent war proved them rich and extensive 
enough to take high rank among our resources for both war 
and peace. 

Copper is known to be among our minerals, and the presence 
of zinc and tin are more than suspected. Of the extent and 
value of these deposits too little is known to warrant assigning 
them any high rank, and they are mentioned only as possibili- 
ties, as is coal oil, also, which may be fairly believed to exist 



[11] 

within or near our coal deposits, experience having shown it to 
be almost certain in similar situations elsewhere. 

Our manganese deposits are entitled to notice from their 
known extent and richness, as well as the wide and growing 
demand for this ore in the arts. Xor should we, for like rea- 
sons, omit our ochres and paint earths, or forget our vast de- 
posits of white sand, so well adapted to glass making. 

This statement of our mineral resources is far from complete, 
and necessarily lacks exactness from want of sufficient data. 
So little has been done in the way of ascertaining their extent, 
and so much less in that of their development, that neither 
precision nor fullness is yet possible in such an essay ; but 
enough is known to warrant the belief that they have not been 
overstated, and mav be relied on as sure foundations for indus- 
tries and commerce, ample to support an added population 
greater than we have. 

We will close this list by reference to our rich and extensive 
marl beds, which, from their value as fertilizers, are entitled to 
mention, and aftbrd a fitting opportunity to pass to the consider- 
ation of our 

AGRICULTUIIAL EESOURCES, 

in which we shall include both our actual and possible produc- 
tions. These we shall consider as textile growths and food 
products, discussing the latter first, on the principle that food, 
as the prime physical necessity of the race, outranks, by right, 
all other productions. If our practice conformed more closelv 
to this theory, we might safely discuss our food resources on 
the basis of actual production. As it is, we shall have to give 
our proved capacity the precedence over achieved results, as a 
measure of our claims. But we may, and do claim a high pro- 
ducing capacity in food crops, though others have received more 
attention, generally, except as to small grainfs and fruits, which, 
in the northern and northwest portions of the State have been 
more regarded, and found profitable. If, in other portions, corn 



[12] 

and sweet potatoes have too nearly limited our actual achiev- 
ments, it is no fault of our soil nor of our climate. 

Experience warrants the assumption that we can grow, prof- 
itably, almost every variety of food that obtains between Alaska 
and the tropics. Kot only corn, but all the cereals of the 
Union, including even rice, have been grown enough to prove 
our ability to make them articles of export instead of purchase, 
if we choose to cultivate them, and the same holds true of all 
the leading root crops and iruits ; and, with these as a basis, 
the production of our meat supply is an assured possibility. 

If we cannot grow the cane of the gulf coast, we can supple- 
ment it with sorghum and the sugar beet. And, excepting tea, 
coffee, spices, and a few tropical or serai-tropical fruits, almost 
every edible product between Canada and the equator is within 
our capacity, so far as concerns soil and climate. 

It is simply a question of economy and convenience whether 
we shall produce or purchase our food supplies. In the past it 
has been considered more convenient, at least, to be purchasers 
than producers, and to devote our attention to other crops. At 
present the tendency, and it is believed a wise one, is toward 
their production, on the score of both certainty and economy. 
Time and experience will, as they alone can, decide the point : 
but, pending the solution, w^e may safely count among our 
resources the ability to produce, with a wide export margin, 
and without reducing our cotton production, food enough to 
meet every demand of a population tenfold greater than we 
possess. 

From this topic we pass to the consideration of our 

TEXTILE PRODUCTS. 

Of these it is known that w'e can grow cotton, hemp, jute, 
ramie or China grass, and flax; and can produce both silk and 
wool ; but cotton alone is produced to an extent that enables us 
to rank it as a resource in hand. Hemp has, in a few cases, 
been cultivated as a crop, and proved to be no less profitable 
than cotton, as the yield was large, and prices generally kept 



MB 18.7. 



[13] 

pace with those of cotton. Our ability to grow these products 
is, however, well settled, and if we cannot count them as re- 
sources in hand, we may safely reckon them as within our reach. 
Nor is the value limited, when we choose to draw on them, to 
that of the raw products, but includes the diversified pursuits 
and traffic which their manufacture and transportation will 
employ. Even their cultivation for the raw product would 
increase the average yearly value of our growths, by increasing 
the certainty of having a surplus of some, even when the sea- 
son is unfavorable for others. It is folly to stake all on a single 
crop, subject to numerous causes of failure, when we can as 
easily divide the risks between half a dozen of equal produc- 
tiveness and value, no two of which are subject to the same 
causes of failure. Each additional crop cultivated is at least 
another chance against disaster, if not for increased profit. 

The limit of value we can expect to reach in textiles, as raw 
materials, may be measured in part, but only in part, from what 
we have done in the single staple we do raise as a crop. Of 
cotton we have produced in a single year over three hundred 
thousand bales, worth twenty millions of dollars, and this with 
not over a tenth of our cotton area in cultivation for that pur- 
pose; at least, those familiar with the subject assert that four- 
fifths of our cotton lands are yet in the woods, and it is thought 
safe to assume that, between scarcity of labor, and the necessity, 
as well as growing tendency to cultivate other crops, not more 
than half the cleared cotton lands are at any one time given to 
that crop. This estimate would give a yearly producing ca- 
pacity, when fully developed, of three millions of bales, worth 
two hundred millions of dollars — surely no small resource for 
a single State. And it is believed we can reach this enormous 
growth of the various textiles named, if not of cotton alone, as 
the money value. per acre of the others is little, if any, below 
that of cotton itself 

There yet remains a list of products which, though not be- 
longing to either of the classes named, are so clearly within our 



ability to grow, and commercially so valuable, that they cannot 
be omitted from our list of resources without injustice. 

Tobacco and the castor bean can be grown at a profit in 
almost any portion of the State ; and our bottom lands, at 
least, will produce large and remunerative crops of indigo, 
madder and broom corn, with the mention of which we close 
the list. 

The summing up will show that our lumber and other forest 
resources, with our facilities for making them available, entitle 
us to claim rank Avith any other State in that direction. 

That our mineral resources will bear comparison with anv, 
and surpass those of most of the older States, in abundance and 
variety. 

That our agricultural resources, including food products, tex- 
tile materials, and a wide range of unclassified, but commercially 
valuable articles, are of the highest order ; and that, altogether, 
we may justly feel a loyal pride in the resources of, and the 
prospects which await, in the near future, our State and home — 
Arkansas. W. W. GRANGER. 




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